Exploring the top management team's role in organizational processes and performance: Extensions of the 'upper echelons' research stream

In this dissertation we examine the impact of the composition of the organization's leading team on its behaviors in three empirical studies and one thought-provoking essay. We find, among other things, that the CEO - as leader of the TMT and of the organization - plays a substantial role in realizing the benefits of functional diversity of TMT members, that the decision-making influence of TMT members in technological issues is guided by their expertise or their similarity to the CEO - depending on the TMT's level of behavioral integration - and that the persistence of the TMT's exploitative attention depends on the CEO's tenure and on the entry of new executives into the TMT.
The four studies in this dissertation jointly represent several extensions of Hambrick and Mason's (1984) upper echelons theory and the ensuing research stream. For instance, we elucidate the fact that the TMT's cognitive processes - such as information exchange and attention patterns - mediate and moderate the relationship between TMT composition and organizational outcomes. In addition, we repeatedly indicate that not all TMT members should be treated equally as not all TMT members equally affect the TMT's and the organization's functioning.